For those of you who may not know, my husband and I were born and raised in the very German community in south-central Minnesota called New Ulm.

My families and I are of German ancestry. My grandpa’s first language was German. And, my dad (who BTW also suffers from IBS) has been part of a German singing group for 30+ years. So, growing up I spent more time than most kids at local German festivals, like Fasching and Oktoberfest. And because of it, I enjoyed a lot of yummy German-American food.

Many of the German-American foods that I enjoyed as a kid contained gluten, dairy, and/or FODMAPs. So, I haven’t been able to enjoy many of my childhood favorites … until now!

As it’s Oktoberfest this weekend in La Crosse, I thought we’d celebrate with some FODMAP-friendly takes on two of my favorite German-American foods: brat burgers and spaetzle.

First up, Low FODMAP Brat Burgers.

Bratwursts (aka brats) are pretty common across the Midwest. Lots of communities will hold brat fry’s to raise money and you can find multiple, often locally-made, brat varieties in most grocery stores. Unfortunately, many prepared brats that I’ve come across contain garlic powder or other high FODMAP/ unknown ingredients (e.g., “natural flavors”).

As I’m not well-versed in, nor feel compelled to make my own brats, I decided to take the same general spices and make a FODMAP-friendly brat burger instead.

These low FODMAP brat burgers are spiced with a blend of nutmeg, caraway seeds, ginger, allspice, salt, and pepper. Instead of black pepper, I used white pepper which is fairly typical in brat recipes.

Although white pepper hasn’t officially been tested by Monash, only a small amount is used. If you want to be “safe” you can certainly substitute black pepper in.

Finally, as beer is pretty synonymous with Oktoberfest celebrations, I wanted to let you know that it’s possible to “safely” enjoy one 12 oz. beer on the low FODMAP diet, assuming you don’t have issues with gluten. If you choose to partake, please drink responsibly. 🙂

Notes

White Pepper: FODMAP status currently unknown. However, it is related to black pepper which is low FODMAP and only a small amount is used. If you’d like to stay on the “safe” side, substitute in black pepper.

FODMAP-friendly Hamburger Buns: Although not officially tested, many seem to tolerate Udi’s Gluten Free White Hamburger Buns and Schar Gluten Free White Hamburger Buns and may be options to try.

Sauerkraut: A low FODMAP serving is 1 Tbsp. or 20 grams.

Keywords: pork, burger, sandwich,

Did you make this recipe?

I'm a foodie and dietitian living with IBS who loves creating easy and delicious low FODMAP recipes for you (and me)!
I've been trained on the use of the low FODMAP diet for IBS by Monash University and create my recipes based on their (green) low FODMAP serving sizes.